Whitman Students Win 1st Place in Video Contest
Whitman 8th graders Sydney Janeway and Maia Purdy won 1st place in the
middle school division of a state-wide video contest, SAFE IN THE
SOUND,sponsored by the American Red Cross. Focusing on disaster
preparedness,the students’ winning video brought an award of $500 for
the school.

Whitman Animation Wins Honors
Sonja Ferkingstad’s animated short, Mr. Muffin, won Honorable
Mention at Fresh Film Northwest 2012. Part of the 39th Annual Northwest
Filmmakers’ Contest held in Portland, Oregon, Fresh Film NW is a juried
festival of work created by 13 to 19 year-olds living in Alaska,
Idaho,Montana, Oregon and Washington.

Whitman Students Excel in King County Library ContestThree of
the top five book trailers chosen as finalists in the King County
Library’s “Read. Film. Win 2012” contest were produced by Whitman7th
grade video production students. The videos were screened at a red
carpet event in Issaquah on August 18th. The award for Winning Book
Trailer (Trophy and $100 Best Buy gift card), was presented to
Whitman7th graders Jesse Romero, Adrianna Mitalas, and Alyssa Korth for
their book trailer for “The Running Dream”, written by Wendelin Van
Draanen.

WHITMAN VIDEOS RECEIVE AUDIENCE AWARDS “Static Waves” by Jaya
Flanary & Shea Washburn, “Homework PSA” by Mitchell Ewbank &
Spencer Gaffin, and “My Losing Season” book trailer by Garrett Harris
& James Beckett were voted Audience Awards at the Second Annual
Middle School Media Fest, held at Seattle Country Day School on May 18th
2012. Ten Whitman videos in all were invited to screen at the festival.

Short Film Named Official Selection in the Future Wave Shorts ProgramTHE UNORTHODOX, a short film by Whitman 8th grader DJ
McCoy, has been named an official selection in the Future Wave Shorts
program of the 38th Seattle International Film Festival (May 17– June10)
to be shown on May 28, 2012. The Future Wave Shorts is a well-attended
program during the Festival that highlights the best in youth films from
around the world and will be held as a part of SIFF Shorts Fest
Weekend. The Seattle International Film Festival is the largest and most
well-attended film festival in the United States with150,000 attendees
expected in 2012. SIFF screens a wide selection of the best new
international features and documentaries over the 25-dayfestival,
presenting more than 400 films from over 60 countries. With extensive
local, national and international media coverage, the Festival has
emerged as one of the country’s most accessible and highly publicized
film events.

Whitman Book Trailers now in Seattle Public Library’s Book Catalogue
Thanks to the Teen Librarian at SPL’s Greenwood Branch, anyone looking
online for a particular book to read can now scroll down to videos and
watch a book trailer produced by 7th and 8th grade Whitman Video
Production students. Videos are linked to the following books: Girl
Stolen, Bloody Jack, The Million Dollar Shot, Something Girl, My Losing
Season, Elephant Run, Gone, Thirteen Reasons Why, A Mango Shaped
Space,If I Stay, When You Reach Me.

WALK IN THE PARK Wins at Regional Festival
WALK IN THE PARK, produced by Whitman 8th graders Mara Hollenback and
Stephanie Shao, is among the winners at the 35th Annual Young People's
Film & Video Festival. The animated video about two shoes falling in
love was selected from over 300 entries. The annual festival is an
opportunity for young Northwest film and video makers living in
Alaska,Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah and Washington to have their work
juried by professional media artists and presented to the public. This
year’s festival will be held on Saturday, November 19th, 1 PM at
Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 SW Park Avenue, Portland, Oregon. A sampling
of this year's Teen Division entries can be seen online starting
November 1 at Vimeo.com.

Whitman Big in Festival Bow
Seven videos by Whitman filmmakers have been selected to screen at
the1st Annual Middle School Media Fest, sponsored by Seattle Country Day
School. The Media Fest will run from 1:15PM – 4:15PM on Friday, May
13,2011 and feature media from nine Seattle-area middle
schools.Congratulations to filmmakers Daniel Merz, Simon Gibson-Penrose,
Lewis Gregerson-Spencer, Mara Hollenback, Stephanie Shao, Zach Green
and Xavier Obezo.

Whitman Videos Win Awards
Four works by Whitman Video Production students will receive
certificates for Outstanding Video Production at the 2011 Images of
Youth Film Festival on Thursday, April 14th at 7:00 p.m. at the
Youngstown Cultural Arts Center (www.imagesofyouthfestival.org).Big
Blue Ball by Daniel Merz & Simon Gibson-Penrose, Love is not just a
walk in the park by Mara Hollenback & Stephanie Shao,Anti-Smoking
PSA by Mara Hollenback and Stephanie Shao, and Smell the Roses by
Nathaniel Solum and Brad Tucker (produced as 8th graders last spring)
are among the videos to be honored at the festival.

Students Produce PSAs for InvestED
Zach Green and Max Parsons produced two Public Service Announcements for
InvestED, a Seattle-based organization that provides financial
assistance to students in need at secondary schools throughout
Washington State. The 8th grade video production students worked with
InvestED’s Public Relations Coordinator, shooting and editing the PSAs
for the organization’s March, 2011 fundraising event.

The festival is an annual opportunity for young Northwest film and
video makers living in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah and
Washington to have their work juried by professional media artists and
presented to the public. The festival encourages young people to use
film and video to creatively express personal concerns, explore
important social issues, and share engaging stories about the world
today as they see it.Criteria for selection include age/grade,
originality, artistic merit,technical achievement, and conviction in
investigation of subject matter. Only 16 of more than 150+ submissions
received from Northwest students were selected as finalists.

Whitman Student Wins Honorable Mention in Statewide Video Contest
Sophia Peck's video Arts Education won Honorable Mention in the 2010
Washington State Board of Education Student Video Contest. The contest
challenged students to create a video answering the question, "Why is
arts education important?" Sophia's video was one of only two middle
school videos to be recognized among entries from across the state of
Washington.

Two Whitman Videos Open Sessions at Statewide Summit
Two videos by Whitman TV Production students were shown at the opening
sessions of the 2010 Healthy Schools Summit, May 27th & 28th at the
Seattle Airport Marriott in Seattle, WA. The videos are Gaming PSA by
August Detering, and Anti-Smoking PSA by Hunter Smith & Giordan
Bonano.

According to Marilyn Cohen, PhD, who is Director of the NW Center for
Excellence in Media Literacy at the University of Washington and a
presenter at the summit, it's not the general practice to present
student work for the entire group of participants of an opening
session.For them to do this each day of their opening session is
"terrific". She also noted that the conference attracts a very large
audience.

Whitman Students Make Big Splash at Local Film Festival
Three videos by Whitman students were featured at the 2010 Images of
Youth Video Festival. The student producers, Mani Bender and Alina
Vilaysom for Under the Knife, August Detering for Gaming PSA and Hunter
Smith & Giordan Bonano for Anti-Smoking PSA, were awarded with
certificates for Outstanding Video Production. In addition, a team of
teen judges selected Hunter & Giordan's Anti-Smoking PSA to receive
one of the six Special Peer Awards for Outstanding Achievement The
festival, held on May 25th at the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center in Seattle, is a project of Action for Media Education